History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 63

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1138

USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 63
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 63
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 63

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There is no man in the community who is better informed concerning horti- cultural problems or the opportunities of the state in this direction. His prominence in this field is indicated in the fact that he was chosen to serve as horticultural commissioner at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in St. Louis, and also at the exposition held at Portland, Oregon, and the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition. He was likewise state fair commissioner of Washington for three years. He became one of the organizers of the Yakima County Horticultural Union, of which he is still a member and of which he served as president during the first three years of its existence. In 1910 he organized the Wright Fruit Company, which was incorporated

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in 1914. This company now has a large warehouse ninety by ninety feet and two stories in height with basement. It is frost-proof and there is a side track running up to the door, thus greatly promoting the shipping facilities. The company buys and sells fruit and handles from one hundred and fifty to two hundred carloads an- nually. The officers of the company are: Howard Wright, president and manager; and William L. Wright, secretary and treasurer.

On the 11th of March, 1874, Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Lura Buckley, who was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois, but was reared in Freeport, that state. She is a daughter of Thomas and Esther (Foster) Buckley, the former a native of Williamsport, and the latter of Union county, Pennsylvania. On leaving the Keystone state they cast in their lot with the pioneer settlers of Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Wright have been born four children. J. Howard, a ranchman living near Yakima, is married and has one child. He is a veteran of the Spanish-American war and participated in eleven engagements. William Clifford follows ranching near Yakima. Helen is the wife of Samuel Hawkes, a jeweler of Yakima, and they have one child. Grace Esther, the youngest of the family, died at the age of three years, in 1894.

Mr. Wright gives his political endorsement to the republican party and while a stanch supported of its principles he has never been an aspirant for office. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church and are widely and favorably known, the hospitality of the best homes of this section of the state being freely accorded them. Mr. Wright has made for himself a most creditable position in business circles of the valley and the sterling worth of his character, as well as his business enterprise, has placed him in a most enviable position in public regard.

MRS. SARAH BAKER.

Mrs. Sarah Baker, a capable business woman, conducting a variety store at Wapato, was born May 23, 1872, a daughter of August and Wilhelmina Kanne, who at an early day settled in Minnesota, but later removed to Oregon, where the father died July 1, 1918, and where the mother still lives. They had a family of ten chil- dren, of whom Mrs. Baker is the third in order of birth. She acquired a public school education in Minnesota and was never engaged in business up to the time that she established the variety store in 1909. She erected a building for this purpose which she has since enlarged and it is now twenty-five by one hundred feet. She carries a stock of groceries, dry goods and notions and is assisted in the conduct and management of the store by her daughter, Clella, who is also a high school student and is very proficient in music. The store is conducted on a strictly cash basis and Mrs. Baker displays marked ability and efficiency in its management. She closely studies the needs and wishes of the people and makes judicious purchases and therefore profitable sales.

ARMENT P. ESCHBACH.

" Arment P. Eschbach is now living retired in Yakima but for a considerable period was actively identified with ranching interests in the valley and achieved success through close application and indefatigable energy-a success that now cnables him to rest from further labor. Mr. Eschbach is a native of Alsace, France. He was born March 31, 1850, in a regio., which in the World war was traversed by the contending armies, its beauty and resourcefulness being despoiled by Germany's ruthless depredations. He is a son of John P. and Mary (Beddinger) Eschbach, who on coming to the new world, crossed the continent as far as Washington county, lowa, where they took up their abode. Their home was forty-five miles from Bur- lington, which was their nearest market. The family cast in their lot with the pioneer settlers of the district in which they lived and shared .in the hardships and privations of frontier life. They remained residents of Iowa until 1856 and then

ARMENT P. ESCHBACH

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went to Mankato, Blue Earth county, Minnesota, where they resided until 1884, when they removed to Washington. In this state John P. Eschbach spent his remaining day. His first wife died in October, 1856, and he afterward married Barbara Sugg, a native of New York, who passed away in Yakima in 1916, at the advanced age of eighty-five years.

Arment P. Eschbach acquired a public school education in Minnesota and there carried on farming to the age of thirty-one, when he married and removed to the Pacific coast. It was in the fall of 1881 that he reached the city of Yakima and soon afterward he purchased farm land on the Naches, acquiring one hundred and sixty acres, which he devoted largely to the raising of hay and stock. As the years passed he developed an excellent property, upon which he made his home until 1917. He then retired and took up his abode in Yakima, where he is now enjoying well-earned rest. The years that passed were years of intense and well directed activity. He worked strennously in the development of his farm and as time passed on he har- vested good crops, for which he found a ready and profitable sale on the market. being able to add year by year to his savings.

On the 19th of September, 1881, Mr. Eschbach was married to Miss Rosa Mosser, a native of Minnesota, who had been his schoolmate in childhood. They have be- come the parents of a large family, namely: Josephine, now the wife of Frank Kreskey, living at Moxee City and by whom she has three daughters and four sons; Edward A., who married Irene Sandmeyer and they have three children and reside upon his father's old farm, which he has purchased; Rose, deceased, who was the wife of Charles Bartlett, an hydraulic engineer of Olympia, by whom she had two daughters; Leona, the wife of Bud Bartlett, a civil engineer, and they have three children; Levina, who is a trained nurse; Olivia, who is engaged in teaching school; Eugenia, attending business college in Yakima; and John H., who was the third in order of birth and who died at the age of six years.

Mr. Eschbach and his family are communicants of St. Joseph's Catholic church, in the work of which he has always taken an active and helpful interest. His politi- cal allegiance is given to the democratic party. For many years he successfully fol- lowed farming and his life record illustrates what can be accomplished by deter- mined, individual effort, for he started ont empty-handed and his success has come to him as the merited reward of persistent and earnest labor.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON WEATHERWAX.

William Henry Harrison Weatherwax, an architect of Yakima who has done important professional work in various sections of the country, especially in con- nection with the great expositions held in different parts of the United States, has in this way become known throughout the length and breadth of the land. Since 1910 he has maintained a private office in Yakima. He was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, May 7, 1856, a son of David N. and Lovina (Weatherly) Weatherwax. both of whom were natives of the Empire state. The father was a representative of one of the old colonial families that was founded in America during the early part of the seventceth century by three brothers who came from Holland. David N. Weatherwax was a carpenter by trade but at the time of the Civil war, feeling that his first duty was to his country, he put aside business interests and became a sergeant with the Union troops at the front. Both he and his wife have now passed away.

After his public school education was completed William H. H. Weatherwax turned his attention to the study of architecture. About 1873 he left the east and removed to Marshalltown, Iowa, where he spent six years. In 1879 he became a resident of Chicago and followed his profession in that city until after the World's Columbian Exposition, in connection with which he became foreman of the draft- ing room and served in that capacity for three and a half years. When his work along that line was ended he went to Omaha to take charge of the architectural de- partment in connection with the construction of the exposition buildings in that city and was so engaged for twenty months. While in Chicago he was also foreman of the architectural department of the school board. From Omaha he went to Buffalo

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for further work in connection with exposition buildings, important duties and re- sponsibilities devolving upon him there. He afterward took charge of the same work in St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and continued in that city for three years. He was next called to Jamestown, Virginia, in connection with the exposition there held and not only was chief draftsman of the architectural depart- ment but also assistant director of works. Called to Seattle, Washington, he there designed three-fourths of all the concession buildings on the grounds of the Seattle- Alaska-Yukon Exposition. At length he came to Yakima in 1910 and opened an office for the private practice of his profession. Here he has since remained save that he went to San Francisco, where he was the head of the architectural depart- ment for the Pan-American Exposition of that city. His has certainly been an un- usual career, for he has been identified with every exposition of importance as the head of the architectural department since 1893 save the exposition at Portland and that was because his services were engaged in connection with the St. Louis exposi- tion. Since his removal to Yakima he has designed the Taft building, the Coffin- Rundstrom building, the Y. W. C. A. building, the fire engine house, the Yakima Trust Company building, the Mowery service station, the Bell-Wyman building, the Cascade Creamery Company building and the residences of George Harris, E. W. Brackett and V. M. Persons. He was also the architect of the Earl warehouse, the ice plant, the Holsinger warehouse, the Jefferson school building, the school near Moxee, the grade school at Prosser, the high school at Zillah, several warehouses at Selah, two warehouses at Grandview, a warehouse at Wapato, the Liberty theatre at Yakima and many other notable buildings and residences. In a word he stands as one of the foremost architects not only of the northwest but of the entire country, with a reputation that has made him known from coast to coast.

In 1889 Mr. Weatherwax was united in marriage to Miss Flora F. Toomer, a na- tive of Iowa. They have a son, Lee A., twenty-seven years of age, who married Miss .Alice Smith, of New Bedford, Connecticut, and has two children, Robert and Harry. Lee A. Weatherwax was graduated from the Boston School of Technology and worked with his father for many years, during which time they designed the Armory at Yakima. He is now secretary of the Hendrickson Construction Company of Seattle.

Mr. Weatherwax votes with the republican party, which he has supported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. His fraternal relations are with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Commercial Club and is thoroughly alive to the oportunities and advantages of the west, becoming an active factor in its upbuilding and improvement, while in the utilization of his pro- fessional skill and expert knowledge he has added much to its beauty.

WILLIAM F. CARPENTER.

For more than a third of a century William F. Carpenter has lived in the north- west and from boyhood days has been identified with ranching interests. He was but five years of age when brought by his parents to Washington, at which time the family home was established in Kittitas county, where he has since lived. He was born in Hampton, Franklin county, Iowa, August 28, 1878, a son of Edmund A. and Eva A. (Spittler) Carpenter, who were pioneer settlers of Iowa. The father was born in New York, while the mother is a native of Pennsylvania, and both are still living at the age of eighty-one and sixty-eight years respectively, their home being in Ellensburg, where Mr. Carpenter has retired from active business life. In June, 1883, he came with his family to the Kittitas valley and in 1889 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land eight miles northeast of Ellensburg. It was all covered with sagebrush and not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made upon the place. With characteristic energy he began its development and his labors soon wrought a marked transformation in the appearance of the land, which he converted into rich and productive fields. He continued to reside thereon till the time of his retirement about ten years ago.

William F. Carpenter of this review was a lad of but five years when brought to Washington and in the public schools ncar his father's home he acquired his educa-

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tion. When not busy with his textbooks he worked with his father upon the home ranch and in 1903 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining the old homestead. Upon this he has built a very modern and beautiful residence, has also fenced his land and by well kept fences has divided it into fields of convenient size. He also cultivates his father's ranch, which he rents, and he raises hay and grain and also buys and- sells cattle, which has become an important feature in 'his business. He is energetic and determined and his persistency of purpose has brought to him well deserved success.

In 1903 Mr. Carpenter was united in marriage to Miss Adeline Cummings, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Lawrence and Hattie Cummings, who were early settlers of this section of the country. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have three children: Lawrence, twelve years of age; William, a lad of six; and Harriett, who is in her first year.

In politics Mr. Carpenter is a republican, well informed on the questions and issues of the day, but has never been ambitious for office. He has always preferred to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs and his capable direction of his ranching interests has brought to him a substantial measure of prosperity.

JOHN SUDWEEKS.

John Sudweeks, who has extensive and valuable ranching interests near Mab- ton, Washington, is a native of Canada, his birth having occurred in the province of Ontario, November 20, 1849. His parents were Edward and Mary (Emerick) Sud- weeks, the former a native of England and the latter of Canada. The father for many years followed agricultural pursuits but both he and his wife have now passed away.

John Sudweeks was reared amid farm surroundings in the Dominion and attended the public schools of that country in the acquirement of his education. Having duly prepared for life's arduous duties, he decided to cross the border into the United States and became identified with lumber camps in Michigan. In 1870, at the age of twenty-one years, he went to Kansas, where he was numbered among the pioneers of Wabaunsce county, there taking up a homestead. This he cultivated and improved and also practiced law to some extent until 1904, which year marked his arrival in Yakima county, where he acquired a ranch in the southern end of the county, to which he gave his attention for some time. Later he sold that place and in 1908 bought forty acres of valuable land four miles north of Mabton, which through his efforts has become a valuable property. He has now, however, given part of his land to his sons but has retained ten acres. He has ever been progressive in his farming methods and has made modern improvements upon the property, which is devoted to the raising of corn, potatoes, beans, hay and alfalfa.

On November 23, 1873, Mr. Sudweeks married Sarah M. Pratt, a native of Indiana and a daughter of George and Harriet (Sisson) Pratt. Her father was one of those loyal sons of the country who when the Union was in danger took up the cause of the north and entered the Civil war, giving his life for his country in that great con- flict. His wife has also passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Sudweeks were born the following children: one who died in infancy; Mabelle, the wife of Edward Swart- ing, a rancher of Yakima county, by whom she has two children; Josie, deceased; John W., who is ranching on the old home farm and is married; James E., a well known rancher of Yakima county, who is also married and has four children; and Charles P., who is engaged in operating the home ranch in partnership with his brother, James E.

The family are highly esteemed in their neighborhood and socially prominent and all of the children occupy honorable positions in life. Of these Charles P. was horn in Wahaunsee county, Kansas, June 23, 1888, and in the acquirement of his education attended the public and high schools, subsequently becoming a student in the Washington State College, having come to this commonwealth with his father in 1904. He then taught school for ten years, being for three years of this time prin- cipal of a school at Wenatchee, and he has a life state certificate. In January, 1908,

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he and his brother James acquired title to thirty acres of land five miles south of Sunnyside which at that time was covered with sagebrush. There Charles P. Sud- weeks has spent part of the time and has also hired help in order to develop the prop- erty, which is now highly improved and very valuable. The brothers raise hay. grain, corn and beets upon their ranch and also conduct a dairy. They also give considerable attention to live stock interests, specializing in registered Holstein cat- tle. In 1916 they bought two hundred acres of fine land two miles south and west of the old home place and are developing this into a fine alfalfa ranch. In former years Charles P. Sudweeks also traveled for John W. Graham & Company, of Spokane. selling school furniture and thus acquiring a good business training which has stood him in good stead in the conduct of his agricultural interests. He is a successful young man, well entitled to all the prosperity that has come to him, and his future career will prove of interest to many in the neighborhood as he has already become a leading agriculturist and is well known as a successful teacher.

John Sudweeks of this review, besides being successfully engaged in farming in his earlier years, read law and was admitted to the bar. For fifteen years he suc- cessfully practiced at Eskridge, Kansas. He has ever taken a great interest in public affairs and has deeply studied political as well as public situations, keeping in close touch with the issues of the day. He is a republican and while in Kansas served as justice of the peace. He was also county commissioner and represented his district for one term in the state legislature, taking an active interest in all bills coming up during that session and thus assisting in putting valuable laws upon the statutes of the state. Fraternally he is a member of the blue lodge of Masons, practicing the principles of that organization in his conduct toward his fellowmen. He also be- longed to the Odd Fellows but has demitted from that organization. Both he and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist church, in the work of which they are helpfully interested. In fact they have ever given much attention to moral and in- tellectual development and upbuilding and have proven valuable members of society. In his younger years Mr. Sudweeks taught school in Kansas and was quite successful along that line. He is now, however, to some extent enjoying a rest to which he is well entitled, as he is nearing his seventieth birthday. His career has been a most creditable one and he can look back upon it with great satisfaction as every phase thereof has been filled with honorable activity and has been productive of good re- sults not only to himself but to his fellowmen and the communities in which he has resided.

HENRY E. ANGEL.

Henry E. Angel, a prominent and successful orchardist and stock raiser, owning a valuable ranch near Wapato, was born in Muscatine county, Iowa, May 31, 1863, a son of Charles Giles and Eleanor Catherine (Hargraves) Angel, who were natives of New York and of Pennsylvania respectively. Removing westward. they hecame residents of Iowa in 1848 and there the father devoted his attention to farming for about three decades. In 1877 he established his home in Kansas, where both he and his wife spent their remaining days. They were closely associated with the pioneer development of the middle west and were recognized as people of gennine worth in the communities in which they lived.

Henry E. Angel acquired a public school education. He began his studies in Iowa and was a lad of fourteen years at the time of the removal of his parents to Kansas. Through vacation periods he worked in the fields and continued to assist his father until he reached the age of nineteen years, when he started out in the business world on his own account. For a time he was employed as a farm hand by others but eventually rented land and became a successful farmer. He lived in Kan- sas until the fall of 1898, when he came to the Yakima valley and the following year he purchased twenty acres of land near Yakima and in addition to its improvement worked at the carpenter's trade. In 1905 he sold his original ranch and in 1906 he bought forty acres on Parker Heights, at which time the tract was covered with sagebrush. He afterward sold twenty acres of this place but later bought ten acres

MR. AND MRS. HENRY E. ANGEL

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more and he now has a valuable property of twenty-eight and a half acres, of which eighteen acres is in fruit. His orchards show fine pear, apple, peach and cherry trees, which yield abundantly in season. In 1909 he built one of the best homes in his part of the valley and in 1910 erected a large barn with modern equipment. He also has an excellent silo upon his place and stock raising is made a feature of his husiness. He has twenty-six head of horses and colts and twenty-one head of reg- itered Guernsey cattle and is conducting an excellent dairy. Viewed from every standpoint his is one of the finest ranches of the valley and in its conduct Mr. Angel has ever displayed a most progressive spirit. His is the only pure bred herd of Guernsey cattle in the valley. Two of his cows were imported from England and are very fine stock. He also has thoroughbred Morgan horses and is the owner of a stallion, Quesal, which won the first prize and the champion prize at both the Cascade horse shows and also at the Oregon state fair and four times at the Wash- ington state fair. He is likewise the owner of the registered Morgan mare, Sedge- sparrow, which has made a trotting record of 2:16. Mr. Angel is a lover of fine stock and has owned some of the finest horses and cattle to be found in the Yakima valley and has done much to stimulate an interest in the breeding of fine stock. His place is called the Rancho San Angelo. Mr. Angel planned the buildings upon the place, which were erected under his immediate supervision. His home commands a magnificent view of Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, the two great mountain peaks which dominate the landscape, and he can also see clear across the Yakima Indian reservation and over the heautiful Parker Bottoms. His place is notable from the fact that he is the only man in the Yakima valley who possesses an orchard of the highest standard and also raises fine registered stock. In addition to his cattle and horses already mentioned he makes a specialty of handling registered Duroc hogs. What he undertakes he accomplishes and his enterprise is unfaltering.

.In 1891 Mr. Angel was married to Miss Emily Cline, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Thomas and Josephine (White) Cline, who were farming people. For about six years her parents lived in the Yakima valley but Mr. Cline died at Yuma, Arizona, and Mrs. Cline passed away at Twin Falls, Idaho. Mr. and Mrs. Angel have become parents of four children: Josephine, the wife of Burton Frasher, a resident of La Verne, Los Angeles county, California, and the mother of one son; Walter E., who was drowned in 1918, when twenty years of age; Arthur Desko and James Roscoe, both at home.

Mr. Angel is identified with the Woodmen of the World and his wife has mem- bership with the Royal Neighbors. In politics he is a democrat with independent tendencies. He is neglectful of no duty of citizenship and cooperates heartily in well devised plans and measures for the general good. At the same time he has carefully and wisely directed his business affairs and, actuated by laudable ambition, he has taken a position of leadership in regard to orcharding and stock raising in the district in which he makes his home. His is a nature that could never be content with mediocrity nor does he ever choose the second best. Holding to the highest standards, he has advanced in his business career and while upbuilding his own for- tunes he has followed constructive methods, his path never being strewn by the wreck of the losses of others. Throughout his entire career he has displayed qualities which have commanded for him the highest regard and he certainly deserves men- tion among the representative residents of the Yakima valley.

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 63

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1138

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1138